Candles in the Shadows
by YinYangWriter
Summary: Eva's severing the ties of her old life before Kayla. But what happens when she begins forming new ties with students other than the LYOKO warriors?
1. Severing Ties

**This is the fifth installment of the **_**Light and Shadow**_** series. I do not own **_**Code: LYOKO**_**, but the characters of Eva Maverick and Kayla Olson are my creations. Please review.**

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><p>Milly got up and went to the bathroom in the middle of the night. She pushed the bathroom door open and knew immediately she was not the only one up. One of the showers was running. It was after midnight. Who would be taking a shower at this hour?<p>

There was a hiss over the sound of the shower. "I got it." That sounded like Aelita. "You okay?"

Milly crept closer to the showers. She could hear someone panting heavily.

"Yeah," came the reply. It was Eva Maverick. Milly would know that raspy voice anywhere. "How bad am I?"

"Uh, you're a mess," Aelita answered. "I would feel better if we took you to the nurse."

Take Eva to the nurse? What was going on? Milly could smell a scoop!

"Not at this hour," Eva said. "It would raise too many questions." She groaned. "And I have too much of a headache to think up a convincing story."

"We should at least tell Kayla," Aelita said. "This looks bad."

"Head wounds always bleed a lot," Eva told Aelita. "I'm more worried about my leg."

There was some shuffling. "It doesn't look too bad," Aelita said. "It didn't blister." She sighed. "You were lucky."

Blood? Blister? Milly inched closer to the showers. She wanted to see Eva.

"I know for a fact it would have been much worse if I hadn't brought Bon Ami with me," Eva was saying. She grunted. "Easy, Aelita."

"Sorry," Aelita responded. "Did you get everything out now?"

Milly couldn't hear Eva's answer. Perhaps she only gestured to Aelita. The water turned off.

"What about Bon Ami?" Aelita asked. "Where is he?"

"My room," Eva replied. "He took a chunk out of that creep's leg. He's such a smart dog."

"You saved his life," Aelita said. "He'll save yours. Dogs are very loyal. Look at Odd and Kiwi."

Eva chuckled. "You're right." She grunted again. "Help me back to my room."

Milly hurried to a toilet stall. She peeked through the gap in the stall door. She saw Aelita in her nightshirt supporting Eva. Eva was limping, her hair was wet and there was a bandana wrapped around her head, and she was still wearing her street clothes. Where had she been?

"You'll sleep in my room," said Aelita. "I need to keep an eye on you. You could be concussed!"

"I'm not concussed," Eva said. "I would know if I was. I've taken harder hits."

Aelita sighed. "I'll get Bon Ami once I get you in bed. He'll stay quiet, right? I don't want him waking everyone up."

"Yeah, he'll be quiet," said Eva. "He barely barks for anything."

Aelita and Eva left the bathroom. Milly stayed where she was for a minute in case they came back. She went over to the shower stall they were using. There was bright red mixed with the clear water. Was that blood? There was a trash can moved into the shower area. Milly moved some used tissues aside and found paper towels stained with blood. There were also several bloody glass fragments that appeared to belong to a bottle. What was going on?

The next morning, Milly got up and quickly got dressed.

"What's the hurry, Milly?" asked Tamiya.

Milly grinned. "A super scoop!" she answered with a wink.

"A super scoop?" asked Tamiya. "On what?"

"Not what," Milly answered. "Who! Eva Maverick and Aelita Stones. I found them in the bathroom last night and heard them talking. Eva's been sneaking out at night and last night she got hurt. I found pieces of glass and bloody paper towels in the waste basket."

Tamiya sucked in a breath. "I don't think this is such a good idea," she said. "Eva Maverick is scary. I don't want to cross her."

"Calm down," said Milly, adjusting her scarf. "We'll just do a little investigating. Once we have enough, we'll go tell Jim."

The two young reporters dashed outside to get to breakfast. Eva and Aelita were already in the cafeteria with their other friends. Eva looked like her perfectly normal self: disconnected and secretive. The others were giving her varying looks of concern, admiration, and relief.

"So everything's out now?" Ulrich asked Eva.

"Yes," replied Eva, taking a small bite of her eggs. "It's all moved into my room. I have boxes of stuff stacked everywhere. I'm going to need some help sorting."

"What about your injuries?" Jeremy asked.

"They're fine." Eva scanned the cafeteria. "I still have a massive headache, but it's better than what it was. My leg may give me trouble at gym class."

"I wish you had some aloe vera gel in your first aid kit," Aelita said. "It would have taken the sting out of your burn."

"You got burned, too?" Odd asked loudly.

"Shh!" they hissed at him.

"Keep it down," Eva said in a low, dark voice, looking out of the corner of her eye. "We have a couple of spies listening in."

The others turned to where Eva was looking. They saw Milly and Tamiya quickly look away from them and at their breakfast.

Eva sighed. "I thought I sensed someone lurking in the bathroom last night," she murmured. "I just thought I was being paranoid."

"Milly and Tamiya?" asked Aelita.

Eva nodded and grimaced. Moving her head made it throb. She reached up and touched the side of her head. Aelita had carefully braided several thin strands to hold together a gash in her scalp. The other layers of Eva's hair masked the tiny braids. "Only one of them, probably Milly. She's the instigator. I don't think Tamiya would spy on me. I scare her too much."

"You do have that effect on people," said Odd. He shuffled in his seat. "So tell us already! What happened last night?"

"Not here," said Eva. "At the factory. I'll tell all of you. I don't feel like repeating myself twice." She yawned.

"I know what you mean," Aelita yawned as well. "Both of us were up most of the night. I was too afraid to let Eva fall asleep. I kept shaking her every five minutes to make sure she was awake."

"What about Bon Ami?" asked Jeremy.

"He's in my room," said Aelita.

"I'll take him out when I take Kiwi out," Odd volunteered.

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><p>Later that day, after classes were over, Milly followed Eva into the woods. Eva hadn't limped all day, but now she was.<p>

Milly smiled. "You're a great actress, Eva," she whispered to herself. "But you can't fool me."

Eva looked over her shoulder. Milly hid behind a large tree. When she turned around to see where Eva was, she was gone.

"What?" Milly looked around. "Where did she go?"

Eva was skating through the sewers. The others were already at the factory. Eva had waited because she knew that Milly and/or Tamiya would follow her.

At the factory, in the supercomputer room, Eva told the others what happened last night.

"You already know that I went home to get the rest of my things," Eva said while Kayla checked her injuries. "I took Bon Ami with me last night because I had a feeling I would need him. I'm glad I did. Things got rough."

"So what happened?" asked Odd.

"I got there and snuck in through the back window like I've always done. I went around and let Bon Ami in." Eva hissed as Kayla tugged at the braids. "I started packing my final box. Bon Ami was lying on my sister's bed." Eva swallowed hard when she mentioned this. It only took a second for her to continue. "I heard Dad's snoring stop and I knew there was going to be trouble. I finished packing the box and started for the door. Dad was up and moving and saw me. He was drunk, I could tell, and he had a bottle in his hand. He yelled at me, asking where I had been, and whacked me over the head with the bottle. Bon jumped up and bit his leg. There was a struggle and there was something boiling on the stove. The fight moved into the kitchen and one or both of us knocked over the pot and I burned my leg. I grabbed my stuff, called Bon to me, and we ran out of there."

Bon Ami barked once.

"So, it's done," said Kayla, looking relieved.

Eva smiled grimly. "It is. But there are other things I now need to worry about."

"Such as?" asked Yumi.

"Keep a low profile here," Eva replied. "The last thing I need is getting myself in hot water with the teachers. I can keep up the charade of being here with my parents' knowledge, but only for so long. With Milly snooping around now, it's going to be tough."

"Don't worry about it," said Ulrich. "I think I may have a way to help you with that."

Eva nodded. She reached up to touch the gash again and moaned.

"Does it hurt a lot?" asked Kayla.

"Just enough to cause trouble," answered Eva. "Let's go back to school. I need to rest."

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><p>They went back to school and Yumi and Kayla, with Bon Ami, went home. Aelita walked Eva to her room. She opened the door and saw what a mess the room was. There were boxes stacked everywhere. Aelita hadn't noticed them last night when she got Bon Ami from her room because it was dark.<p>

"Maybe you should stay in my room," said Aelita, seeing that the bed was cluttered. "I'll get the boys and we'll sort through things for you."

"You don't have to, Aelita," said Eva. "I can do it later."

"I insist," Aelita said, pulling on Eva's arm and leading her back to her room.

With Eva in her room, Aelita got Ulrich and Odd to come up to help her. They set to work unpacking boxes. Most of it was old clothes, but there were other things as well: a collapsible metal table, an electric kettle, mugs and silverware, and packets of instant hot cocoa mix and tea.

"All she's missing are the cookies and we'd be set for high tea," Odd commented. "I hope she has a plan when there is a surprise inspection. We're not allowed to have electric kettles."

"I feel a little weird about going through her clothes," said Ulrich, gingerly lifting a few dark shirts from a box.

"Well, if you find something that you're not comfortable handling, I'll do it," said Aelita, opening another box. "Oh!"

"What?" asked Odd.

Ulrich put down the shirts.

Aelita put a hand to her mouth. "They're photographs of her and Mackenzie," she answered, taking a silver picture frame from the box. Eva and Mackenzie were sitting on a wall in their Easter best. The photograph must have been from four years ago. Eva looked so much younger with the huge grin on her face.

"They look so happy," said Ulrich.

"Mackenzie looks like a doll," Odd chuckled.

"She's really pretty," said Ulrich.

Odd gave Ulrich a wry smile. "Better not let Yumi hear that."

"What?" Ulrich glared. "She's not my girlfriend."

The three of them stared at the photograph for another moment.

"It's sad what happened," Aelita said.

"It should have never happened," said Odd.

Ulrich turned away to continue unpacking. "What's done is done. I don't like it, either, but there's nothing we can do to bring her back."

Odd looked in the box. "Check this out," he said. He pulled out a small notebook.

"I don't think we should be looking at that, Odd," said Aelita. "It could be her diary."

"Eva doesn't strike me as a person who keeps a diary," said Ulrich.

"We didn't think you did, either, Ulrich," smiled Odd. He flipped it open. "It's poetry."

Aelita and Ulrich gathered around Odd so they could read it.

_I am not afraid  
>to play a masquerade<br>that threatens to escalate  
>into an escapade.<br>They think I've cracked  
>turned into a maniac<br>wishing I would turn back  
>but what I wish for is this picture to fade to black.<br>I cannot afford to fear  
>what things may appear<br>but if the truth comes too near  
>I will run and disappear.<br>I won't let them see my torment  
>won't let them see me lament<br>never allow them the wonderment  
>that is my embarrassment.<br>I was wrong  
>I wasn't strong<br>here the pain belongs  
>the suffering prolong.<br>Gone is yesterday  
>need to go away<br>today's a new day  
>time to go on my way.<em>

"She's amazing," said Odd. "I can't even get two lines to rhyme and she writes this!"

"There's a lot of pain in those words," said Aelita.

Odd flipped a few more pages, looking for a lighter poem. "Check this one out."

Ulrich and Aelita gathered around again to see what the next poem said.

_Here comes the trickster elf, do you hear his footsteps?  
>You may not because he is not always what you suspect<br>Beware for he deceives with ease — only after do you know  
>When you look upon the world in retrospect and reflect<br>Sometimes he is a fair maid or handsome prince  
>Other times he's an animal or an unsuspicious object<br>He plays games with the unsuspecting souls who cross him  
>And now and then grants wishes to the ones he does respect<em>

"The trickster elf?" asked Ulrich.

Aelita suddenly burst into a fit of giggles. "She's talking about Puck!" she exclaimed.

"Puck?" asked Odd.

"Remember my doll?" asked Aelita. "He's named after Puck."

"Is there more?" asked Ulrich, reaching to turn the page.

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><p>In Aelita's room, Eva lay on the bed looking at the elf doll that she had moved to the floor. There was a hole in its chest and the stuffing was coming out. She couldn't help but remember a poem she made as a bedtime story for Mackenzie.<p>

". . .So be kind to those you come across for you cannot know for certain / if the trickster elf is among them, show no one any disrespect. / One day you may be kind to him and he will be in your debt / and in the future you will need help and he'll give it to you if in a way you don't expect."

Eva smiled in remembrance and closed her eyes.

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><p><strong>Now all of old the ties are severed, so what is next? Will life begin anew, or will old habits continue? Keep reading an find out. Review!<strong>


	2. Numbers and Supper

"Yumi's not here today?" Ulrich asked Kayla when she got to school.

"No," answered Kayla. "I saw Hiroki and Johnny and asked them where she was. Apparently she's home sick. Something about eating too much sushi last night."

"I'll take notes for her in class," Eva said. "You should too, Kayla."

Kayla nodded.

The day was slow, but eventually it was over. Hiroki and Johnny were standing at the school gate. Johnny was talking to his mother on his mobile. Neither of them were allowed to walk home from school by themselves. Johnny argued that they came to school by themselves, but it didn't change his mother's mind. They would have to wait until someone came to escort them home.

"This stinks," sulked Hiroki.

A hand rested on Hiroki's shoulder, causing him to jump and startled Johnny, who also jumped. Standing behind them was Eva.

"What are you two standing around for?" she asked.

Both boys were afraid of Eva. She scared everyone actually, even some of the teachers. She was so quiet and so secretive that it made everyone believe she was up to something.

"Waiting for someone to pick us up," said Hiroki. "Yumi's not here to walk us home."

"I'll walk you home."

Hiroki and Johnny looked at each other. Neither of their parents said who had to take them home. Eva was older than them and was certainly capable to walking them back to their houses.

"We don't want to bother you," Johnny quickly said.

Hiroki remembered that Milly was trying to learn things about Eva. This was his chance to get some information for her scoop. Maybe she would talk to him more if he helped her with her news story.

"It's not a problem," said Eva. She adjusted the messenger bag on her shoulder. "I have to take her homework to her anyhow and someone has to teach her today's history lesson."

"Okay," said Hiroki.

Eva walked them home, staying a few paces back to give the boys some privacy when talking.

Johnny leaned over to Hiroki. "Are you sure about this?" he whispered.

"Yeah. What are you, chicken?" Hiroki remarked.

"No!" Johnny looked over his shoulder. "It's just there are so many things we don't know about her."

"She's friends with my sister," said Hiroki. "I don't think we're in any danger from her."

"Haven't you heard the rumor?" asked Johnny. "They say that she was expelled from her last school for fighting, and that private school is her last chance before going to prison."

"Chill," said Hiroki.

They dropped Johnny off at his house and Hiroki led the way back to his. This time, Eva walked beside him. He noticed that her eyes scanned the road, the sidewalk, even the yards that they passed.

"Here it is," said Hiroki, pushing open the gate.

They went inside and took their shoes off. Eva looked around. It was a very nice house. Hiroki dashed off to watch television.

"Ah-ah!" Eva warned. "Homework first. And believe me, I know you have some."

"I can do it in the living room," said Hiroki.

"You'll do it in the kitchen where I can keep an eye on you," Eva said, walking into the kitchen.

Hiroki didn't like to be treated like this. Eva wasn't his mother or his sister, so why should he listen to her? Because he could learn something about her to tell Milly.

Hiroki went into the kitchen and got out his homework. He needed to square numbers that all ended in five for math class without a calculator. He wasn't supposed to, but he took the calculator from his bag. Meanwhile, Eva moved about the kitchen, making an after school snack and peppermint tea. She looked over his shoulder. Before Hiroki could do anything, Eva took the calculator from him.

"Hey!"

"There's a quicker way to solve these than with this," she said, slipping the calculator back into Hiroki's bag. "Did they teach you the 'by one more than the one before' method?" Hiroki's blank look was all the answer Eva needed. "What's five times five?"

"Twenty-five," Hiroki answered.

"What's five squared?" Eva asked.

"Twenty-five," Hiroki said again.

"Okay, so when it comes to squaring numbers that end in five, the last two digits will be twenty-five," Eva said. "Now, let's do ninety-five squared. We know it's going to end in twenty-five. Here's where the 'by one more than the one before' part comes in. What's the number before the five in ninety-five?" Eva covered the five with her finger.

"Nine," answered Hiroki.

"What's one more than nine?" asked Eva.

"Ten." Hiroki wasn't sure where this was going. She was asking him simple questions that she knew the answers to.

"Nine times ten."

"Ninety," answered Hiroki.

Eva took the calculator out and handed it to him. "See if your total is 9025."

Hiroki imputed it into the calculator. "9025." He looked up at Eva. "Where did you learn that?"

"Kayla taught me," Eva replied. "Now finish your homework." She took the calculator and put it back into his bag. "And I better not see that out again."

Hiroki smiled.

Eva poured peppermint tea into a cup and took it upstairs. She knocked on a closed bedroom door. When there was no answer, she opened it a crack. Yumi was sleeping on a low bed. Eva quietly went in and set the cup of tea down.

"Yumi," whispered Eva, giving Yumi's shoulder a tap. "Yumi."

Yumi rolled over. "Hrm? What?" She opened her eyes and jumped. "What are you doing here?"

"I walked your brother home," Eva said. She picked up the cup. "And I made you some peppermint tea."

Yumi accepted the cup and drank. "Thanks."

"How's your stomach?" Eva asked. "Kayla told us you weren't feeling well."

"It's better," replied Yumi. "I think I just ate too much last night."

Eva got up. "I'll check on Hiroki. Do you know when your parents are going to be home?"

"No. But tell Hiroki he's in charge of dinner," Yumi said. "They probably won't be home until late. There is money on the table next to the phone. He can order a pizza."

Eva went back downstairs. Hiroki was finishing his homework and munching on pretzels and peanut butter. It would hold him over until dinner was finished. Eva found rice, fish filets, and plenty of frozen vegetables.

Mrs. Ishiyama came home first. "Hiroki! Yumi!"

"Welcome home, Mom," said Hiroki. He went to greet his mother.

Mrs. Ishiyama hung her coat up. "What is that smell? Is Yumi feeling better?"

"I guess," said Hiroki.

Mrs. Ishiyama went into to the kitchen to say hello to her daughter and to ask if she was feeling better. Instead she got a surprise. "Oh! Who are you?"

Eva looked up from the food.

"This is Eva, Mom," said Hiroki. "She walked me and Johnny home."

Eva attempted a respectful bow, but it was a little awkward. "Hello, Mrs. Ishiyama."

It was not long before Mr. Ishiyama came home and had a similar reaction to his wife. "Eva?" he said after Mrs. Ishiyama introduced her. "You wouldn't happen to be related to Ulrich Stern, would you?"

"No, sir, not to my knowledge," Eva answered.

The table was set for three and the settings for a fourth place were on the counter. Eva went upstairs to see if Yumi was awake and wanted dinner.

"Okay," said Yumi, pulling herself out of bed and pulling on some clothes.

When they came downstairs the table was now set for five.

Eva stared at the place for a moment. "You didn't have to set a place for me," she said tonelessly.

"Oh, come now, Eva," said Mrs. Ishiyama. "You cooked dinner. You're entitled to have some of it. Now wash up."

Eva followed Yumi to the bathroom.

"You seem surprised," Yumi said with a laugh in her voice. She heard a sniffle. Yumi looked at Eva and saw she had turned away. "Hey. What's wrong?" Yumi touched Eva's shoulder and turned her around. Eva still had her head down. She was trying to keep from crying. "What's wrong?"

"I never told anyone this, not even Kayla, but," Eva sniffed again and used the hem of her baggy T-shirt to wipe the tears from her eyes, "I would cook for Mackenzie and would give her everything. I would tell her I wasn't hungry. After she was finished, I would lick the pot."

Yumi gave Eva a hug. "That was your only meal of the day, wasn't it?"

"Sometimes," rasped Eva.

Yumi patted Eva on the back. "Let's get down there before Hiroki comes looking for us."

That evening, after Eva went back to school, she lay in bed looking up at the ceiling. She took her locket from around her neck and opened it. Tears began to well up in her dark eyes.

"I love you, Macaroon," Eva whispered. She closed the locket and kissed it. Eva turned over and went to sleep.


	3. Arts, Crafts, and Explosions

**I know some of you have been waiting patiently for this next chapter. Well, guess what? This posting is going to have three chapters! Enjoy the long holiday weekend filled with hot dogs and fireworks. Many thanks to Spyrofan777 for reviewing and commenting on all of the Light and Shadow series so far. You made my entire week with your last review, friend**.

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><p>It seemed the only one to be awake in Monsieur Chardin's art class was Kayla. She looked around and saw the other students all-but asleep as he continued to gripe about the lacking drama department budget. Kayla amended that thought when she saw Odd drawing and Eva's sweeping gaze.<p>

"Let's see what our next project should be," Mr. Chardin said. "How about a group project?"

Everyone perked up when they heard that. A group project meant they could work with their friends and didn't have to do all the work themselves.

"It will be a photography assignment. You will each be in groups and you will create a portfolio. The pictures cannot all be of the same person and there will need to be some sort of theme."

Kayla looked over and saw Eva's agitated look. To anyone else it would appear to be an expression of slight annoyance. Kayla knew that Eva hated having her picture taken.

They had class time to form their groups. Odd, Eva, Kayla, Jeremy, Aelita, and Ulrich joined in one group. They hoped that they could get away with a group of six. Mr. Chardin said nothing.

"So what should our theme be?" asked Jeremy.

Odd looked from Kayla to Eva to Aelita. He was planning something — they could almost hear the wheels in his head turning. "Do you think we can talk Yumi into this?"

"Maybe," said Ulrich. "What are you thinking?"

Odd grinned. "You'll see."

* * *

><p>Odd told them to meet in the factory after class. He said that Aelita needed to bring her laptop and Eva needed to bring her notebook full of poems.<p>

"What is he up to?" asked Kayla.

"It's Odd," said Jeremy. "Who knows what's going through his head."

They were about to board the elevator when Odd called out, "Not down there! I need you up here."

They looked at each other. What was going on?

Odd had set up shop down from the elevator. He had boxes of costumes, a video camera, and what looked like a makeup kit.

"Odd, what is all this?" asked Ulrich.

"Stuff for our photo shoot," Odd said with a grin.

Kayla began to poke through some of the boxes. "This is stuff from the drama department, isn't it?"

"Yep! Mr. Chardin won't miss them as long as we don't ruin them." Odd took something out of the makeup kit. It looked like a crayon. "Who's first?"

"How about first telling us what is going on?" asked Yumi.

"I was thinking about what we could do about our theme," said Odd. "And then I thought, 'Odd, what about focusing on ourselves?' So I grabbed a few things and brought them down here. I was thinking we could show our true colors."

"What about my laptop and Eva's poems?" asked Aelita.

Odd smiled. "Why go for the photos? We'll do a whole music video! I'll edit it to get still frames for our project. The Pop Rock Progressives are getting back together!"

"We don't have a drummer," Ulrich pointed out. "And I'm not asking Nicolas to play again."

"That's the beauty of music software," said Odd. "We don't need it."

"He's right," said Aelita. "I have a few sample tracks ready to play."

They turned to Eva. She had her head down, her eyes shifting from person to person. Eva lifted up the book of poetry she wrote and flipped it open. "Will this be good?" she asked uncertainly.

They all looked over at the page she held out to them.

_This world_ _sees in black and white  
>It makes everything seem so simple<br>But what about all the colors  
>That make up you and me<br>We are not all alike  
>Not made from the same mold<br>We are different, individuals  
>See the colors we can be<em>

"This can work," said Odd. "Now we just to find a melody that matches the lyrics."

"I think I can find something," said Aelita.

After a few minutes of clicking, a jaunty tune emerged from the speakers of Aelita's laptop.

Yumi tapped her foot. "This world sees in black and white," she sang. Yumi sang the first few lines several times in several different keys to find the right notes.

"Wow," said Kayla. "That was great, Yumi."

"Thanks," Yumi smiled. "So much better than _Mystery Girl_."

"Agreed," Jeremy said.

"Hey!" shouted Odd. "I worked hard on that!"

"We all did, Odd," said Ulrich.

"Ah, well!" Odd said, instantly cheery again. "Let's see what we have to work with in the costume department."

He began pulling dresses, pants, shirts, and shoes and tossing them to the others. They tried a few things on before settling on some strange outfits that reflected their personalities. The girls painted their faces.

After a few hours of messing around and searching for the correct music to fit the lyrics, they packed everything up and went back home.

* * *

><p>They started at it the next morning. They didn't have class on Sunday so it gave them plenty of time to work things out.<p>

"This is fun!" Odd said, adjusting the cat ears he found. "Here, I'll show you what I have so far." Odd rewound the video to show them. It wasn't much, just a clip of some random people going about their business. "I'll put it in grayscale. It'll fit perfectly with what we're doing."

"Let's get this done," said Eva, putting the finishing touches on her makeup. Her face was painted with navy blue body paint and she wore an outfit in varying shades of dark blue.

Kayla had brought a drum set and a bass to the factory. Ulrich had brought his keyboard and Odd his guitar. Aelita had her laptop set up to record the music. All of them were dressed in a certain color: Jeremy was aqua, Ulrich was red, Yumi was green, Eva was dark blue, Odd was purple, Kayla was yellow, and Aelita was pink.

For the first hour they got the music down and Aelita recorded it. Jeremy filmed them playing their instruments. Then Odd got an idea to video taping them doing what they did best. Kayla and Eva danced and Ulrich and Yumi threw down a few Pencak Silat moves. Aelita put on a pair of angel wings and swung on the ropes to make it look like she was flying. Odd, dressed up as a cat, carefully made his way across an obstacle course throughout the factory.

"Now, what to do with Jeremy," said Yumi.

Jeremy began to back away. He looked a bit goofy in his aqua shirt and vest. "Hey, you know I can't do anything like that," he said.

They looked at each other.

"I'm sure we can figure something out," said Kayla.

There was a beeping noise coming from Jeremy's laptop, but no one noticed.

"We don't have to do much with Jeremy," said Ulrich. "We just need to have him in the video."

"Ulrich's right," said Aelita. "You don't have to do much."

Back at school, a specter came out of an outlet and floated into the bathroom. It wrapped itself around the pipes and disappeared.

In the late afternoon, the LYOKO warriors walked back to school. They had everything they needed for their project and only needed to finish the video. They climbed out of the sewer and replaced the manhole cover. All of them were laughing about Jeremy tripping as he got out of the elevator.

"You try doing that with shoes that don't fit you," Jeremy defended.

"Hey!" Everyone fell silent at Eva's sudden stern yell. Her head was swiveling, searching the trees. "Something's wrong," she said after a moment.

"How do you know?" asked Ulrich.

"I just do," replied Eva. "Let's be careful."

They slowly walked back to school. Eva kept her head down, but she was well aware of her surroundings. The others looked around warily to see if they could find anything out of the ordinary.

"Do you guys hear anything?" asked Yumi.

"No, nothing," said Jeremy. "That's strange. It's a Sunday afternoon. There should be students out playing."

"I agree," said Eva in a low voice. She stopped. "Jeremy, see if XANA has activated a tower."

Jeremy took out his laptop and opened the super scan. "There is an activated tower in the ice sector."

"What are we waiting for?" asked Odd. "Let's go deactivate it."

"You go," said Eva. "I want to see what XANA's up to."

"We'll stay with you," said Yumi. "Won't we, Ulrich?"

"The rest of us will head back to the factory," said Jeremy.

"Good luck," said Aelita as she, Jeremy, Odd, and Kayla turned around and went back to the sewer.

Yumi, Ulrich, and Eva slowly walked back to the school. There was no one outside playing.

"Maybe someone's in the rec room," Yumi suggested.

Ulrich carefully opened the door the rec room. There was no one inside. "Where could everyone be?" he asked.

"Well, someone's gotta be around here," said Yumi. "They couldn't have all vanished."

Eva was looking around. "There's Jim!" she said, pointing.

"Be careful," said Ulrich. "XANA might have possessed him again."

"Then be ready to run," said Eva. "Jim!"

Jim turned around at the sound of his name. "Maverick, Stern, and Ishiyama. A bit of a surprise to see you here. I thought you would be upstairs with everyone else trying to figure out what happened."

"What are you talking about?" asked Ulrich.

"We've been helping Odd with a project," said Yumi. "We haven't been around the dorms for most of the day."

"Apparently someone thought it would be fun to rig the pipes to burst," said Jim. "On top of that, one of the showerheads exploded when Heidi Klinger turned it on."

"Is she okay?" asked Yumi.

"I'm sure she'll be fine," said Jim. "Yolande knows what to do. Now I got to go to the tool shed to find a wrench. The main waterline valve is stuck. We don't want any more accidents." He walked away.

"Accident my foot," said Eva. "It's gotta be XANA."

"But why the pipes?" asked Yumi.

"There's a lot it can do with the water pipes," said Ulrich. "Especially if it electrifies it."

"Broken showerheads are the least of our worries then," said Eva. "We need to find a way to keep it from frying everyone."

"That won't be too hard since Jim is going to turn off the water," said Ulrich.

"But there's still water in the pipes. And what's going to keep XANA from turning it back on?" Eva looked around. "We need to shut the power off. Where's the breaker for the dorms?"

Ulrich, Yumi, and Eva made a dash to the basement and threw the breaker. Immediately all the lights went out. A small light appeared as Eva turned on a key chain flashlight.

"Let's hope no one turns this back on any time soon," said Eva.

"We can distract Jim," said Yumi. "He'll be so busy with cleaning up the mess in the bathroom that he won't concern himself with the electric until after he's finished."

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, on LYOKO, in the desert sector<p>

"It doesn't look like XANA's on its game today," said Odd. "There isn't anyone here."

"Don't jinx it!" cried Kayla. "This is going well. The sooner we deactivate the tower, the sooner we can stop XANA from hurting anyone."

Black smoke came over the side of the territory.

"You see?" Kayla said angrily, glaring at William and taking the baton that turned into her morning star from her belt. "Now look what you've done."

"We've defeated him before," said Aelita. "We can do it again."

"You're right, Aelita," said Odd, adjusting his arrow launcher.

Kayla activated the golden mace head and chain. As she ran, she began to swing it. Odd and Aelita followed behind her.

The phone rang and Jeremy answered. "Yes, Ulrich?"

"XANA's going to try to fry the school using the broken water pipes," Ulrich said. "We shut the power down, but we don't know how long that's going to hold."

"William's holding up Aelita," said Jeremy. "Kayla's fighting him right now. With her strength, she should be able to stop him." Jeremy looked at the screen. "Odd, Aelita, watch your backs! There are three blocks coming up behind you."

"I see them, Einstein," said Odd. He whipped around and fired an arrow. "Now there's only two."

The lights turned back on at the school. Ulrich, Yumi, and Eva looked up.

"Uh, Jeremy? You might want to tell Aelita to hurry up," Ulrich said. "Our plan doesn't appear to be working."

"We'll try," said Jeremy.

* * *

><p>Ulrich hung up his mobile. "William showed up."<p>

"Great," groaned Yumi.

Eva began to head for the door. "Let's hope Jim got that water turned off."

They went to check the water main. They found Jim on his back unconscious.

"Jim!" shouted Yumi.

The three of them ran over to him. Eva bent over him and checked his vitals.

"He's alive," she said. She looked at his hands. "Looks like he got electrocuted."

"I guess shutting the power off doesn't slow XANA down much, if at all," said Ulrich.

Eva looked around to see what could have done this to Jim. There was a shorted electrical socket and a scorch mark on the water main pipe. "Don't touch the shutoff valve," Eva said. She grabbed Jim under the arms. "Help me move him."

They moved Jim away from the shutoff valve. By that time he was beginning to wake up.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Stay still, Jim," said Eva. "There's been an accident."

Jim frowned. "What?"

"You were electrocuted, Jim," Eva calmly explained.

"Electrocuted?" Jim asked, confused.

"There is a reason why building code states there cannot be electrical wiring within so many inches of a water line," said Eva. She looked over her shoulder at Ulrich and Yumi, her eyes telling them to play along.

"Yeah, Jim," said Yumi. "Something like this could happen to someone else and they may not be as lucky as you are."

"You really should call a building inspector to check this place out," said Ulrich. "If there's a problem here, there may be more problems in the school."

There was a scream. All of them turned to the door. Yumi and Ulrich began to run, but Eva yelled as she dashed for the door, "Stay with him!"

Eva was upstairs in a matter of seconds and running toward the source of the scream. Other students had migrated toward the sound as well and were crowded around the girls' bathroom. Eva pushed her way through the crowd and found Tamiya trying to comfort Milly. Milly was holding her hands to her middle and was sobbing.

"What happened?" Eva asked, looking at Tamiya as she kneeled in front of Milly.

"The faucet just exploded," Tamiya said. "She turned it on to wash her hands and it just burst."

Eva turned to Milly. "Let me see," she said, holding her hands out to the injured girl. Milly slowly and shakily showed Eva her hands. "Shh, it's all right. Shh." Eva inspected Milly's hands. Her wounds were not serious, just scratches. Milly was scared more than anything.

Eva scooped Milly up. She looked at the crowd gathered around them. "No one turn on any of the faucets. Do not even touch them. If you need to wash, use hand sanitizer."

Eva walked out carrying Milly and with Tamiya right behind her.

* * *

><p>Kayla and William were still going at it. They were both equal in terms of strength, but William had more experience swinging his large sword, while Kayla was still trying to learn how to use her morning star.<p>

Kayla got a good swing in and shattered William's sword. He staggered back, astonished that Kayla had managed to take his greatest weapon.

Odd was keeping the last two blocks busy as Aelita made her way to the tower.

Aelita entered the tower and floated up to the top. The interface screen appeared and she placed her hand on it.

Aelita.

Code LYOKO.

"Tower deactivated," said Aelita.

William growled in displeasure and leaped over the side of the territory and into the digital sea.

"That's that," said Odd.

"I hope everyone's okay," said Kayla.

Jeremy was dialing Yumi's mobile as he called the others back. "Yumi, do we need to launch a return to the past?" he asked.

"No," said Yumi. "Everyone's okay. No one knows about XANA. But we are going to have to come up with an explanation for the exploding faucets and showerheads."

"I can do that," said Kayla, getting off the elevator.

"Good," said Jeremy. "No return to the past necessary then."

* * *

><p>"Potassium?" asked Jim. "You expect me to believe a bunch of bananas and potatoes did this to the hardware?"<p>

Kayla figured he wouldn't believe her when she told him that this was probably all a prank by some student that hadn't planned on the consequences of his or her actions.

"When potassium and water mix, it creates an explosion. Potassium is an alkali element. Any alkali that mixes with water either catches fire or explodes," Kayla explained.

"She is right, Jim." Ms. Hertz came up behind them. "We should check to see if any potassium is missing from the science room or is still in the faucets and showerheads. We already have two people injured. We don't want any more."

"Well, all right," said Jim. "Sorry about that, Kayla."

"No worries, Jim," said Kayla, turning for the door.

"And Kayla!" Kayla turned around. "Tell Eva I said thank you. It's possible she saved my life."

Kayla smiled at Jim. "I'll let her know."

Kayla exited the building. For a moment she stood on just outside the door. "I know you're lurking about."

Eva came out of the shadows. "XANA didn't do much damage this time," she said. "Just some property damage, but that can be fixed."

"That was a brave thing you did for Jim," Kayla said.

"No," said Eva. "It was nothing special. I didn't perform CPR on him or anything like that."

"You are too humble," said Kayla. "If it wasn't for you, Yumi or Ulrich could have been shocked next. And they might not have been as lucky."

"I'm sure they would have caught the scorch mark on the pipe before they touched the valve," said Eva.

"So you say," Kayla said.

She watched Eva walk back to the dorm building. Kayla went the opposite direction and started for home. "You know something, Eva," she said to herself. "Under that hardcore attitude and all the rule and law breaking you've done, you're a good person."


	4. Snapping Point

It was two in the morning. Jim was having a hard time sleeping. Instead of trying to go back to sleep, he got up and went outside to take a walk and clear his head. Outside, he heard footsteps running the track and heavy panting. Standing in the shadows, Jim walked over to the track and saw a figure in black running around. It was Eva Maverick. What was she doing up at this time of the night running around the track? Jim always thought she was a little strange, but so were her friends.

For a long time Jim stood in the shadows, curious to see how many laps Eva was going to run before giving it up. He surprised her by doing four on the outside lane. She walked over to where she had left a towel and a bottle of water. She took a drink and dumped some on her head.

A twig snapped. Jim looked down to see that he had broken the twig. Eva whipped her head around to the sound. Jim froze. Did she really see him? Perhaps she did because she made a quick retreat inside.

Up in her room, Eva listened carefully for Jim. She had seen him. How long was he standing there, she wondered. She had decided to take a run when she couldn't sleep, something that she was doing more and more often. Tonight was a bit warm and she hadn't worn the baggy T-shirt she usually wore, but a tank top she sometimes slept in. Jim had been standing too far away to have seen any of her scars. She wasn't worried about it.

* * *

><p>Class the next day was boring. At gym, they were to climb the rock wall. Jeremy dreaded such a thing and Ulrich's vertigo had not completely gone away yet.<p>

"How do you think you're going to do?" Aelita asked Kayla.

Kayla and Eva had never climbed the rock wall before.

"I hope I can make it up at least half way," said Kayla. "I'm not sure."

"What about you, Eva?" asked Odd.

Eva did not answer. She simply looked at the wall, assessing the challenge.

Kayla giggled. "Eva's a Sherpa. She can make it to the top without a problem."

Kayla was one of the first to climb the wall. She got a quarter of the way up before she had to come back down.

"Not bad for your first time, Olson," said Jim.

"Thanks, Jim," Kayla said.

"All right, Maverick, you're next."

Eva walked onto the mats and passed Jim. She took one more look up the wall and began to climb.

"Whoa!" "She's good!" "Man, she's fast!"

"You weren't kidding, Kayla," said Ulrich.

Eva was making it look easy. In her head she was howling. Her legs were sore from last night's run. To top that off, her shoulder had been throbbing since she got up that morning.

"Okay, Eva," Jim called up to her when she was three-quarters of the way to the top. "You can come down now."

Eva began to climb down. She always found getting down harder than getting up. She couldn't always judge how close her feet were to where she was supposed to step, whether it was a tree branch, a rock, or a bump in a rock wall. All it took was for one misstep and it could be a very painful landing.

And a misstep there was. Eva's foot slipped and she grabbed the holds at her hands to keep from falling. When her one foot went, so did the other. Eva felt an intense pain in her shoulder that caused her to let go. She fell. Hard.

"Eva!" cried Kayla.

The students crowded around the mats. Eva laid in a heap for a moment, holding her right shoulder, her jaw locked in pain.

"Is she okay?" "She's not dead, is she?" "Oh, dear!" "Someone should get the nurse!"

"You okay?" asked Jim.

Kayla ran up to her friend.

Eva muttered something.

"What?" asked Kayla.

"I said, get back!" Eva said again, louder.

"Give her some space!" Kayla yelled, moving back herself.

Eva got to her knees and then to her feet.

"Are you okay?" asked Jeremy.

Eva, head held high, walked passed everyone and out of the gym. Outside, once the door was shut and Eva had looked around to see who, if anyone, was around, she walked over to the wall and slammed her right side into it. She let out a small yelp as her shoulder went back into place. Eva sat on a bench to catch her breath.

"Hey, Eva," said Kayla. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I'm fine," said Eva.

"What happened?" Kayla sat down beside her.

"I slipped. When I did, my shoulder popped out," explained Eva. She rubbed her shoulder.

Kayla looked at the shoulder in question. "You really should try doing some sort of exercise to make it stop popping out like that."

"It was good up until I stopped competing." Eva leaned back and sighed. "I don't know what I'm going to do now."

"About what?" asked Kayla.

"Cash," replied Eva.

Kayla shook her head. "Stop worrying. I'll take care of you."

"Kayla, I've got to be ready to take care of myself in case something happens," Eva said. "I can't keep relying on you for everything."

"Eva, look." Kayla looked at her in the eye. "I know you don't like the idea of me looking out for you after you've played the role of provider for so long. I understand that and I'm sure the others will understand as well. But you can't keep living like a criminal."

Eva gave her a dry look.

"You know what I mean," said Kayla.

"I know." Eva turned to the school grounds. "Here I can start over. As long as I can keep this up and no one gets any hints, I'm golden."

Kayla could see the downcast glint in Eva's eyes. "What?"

Eva shook her head. "It's nothing."

Kayla gave her a pat. "Come on. We should go back inside."

"You go," said Eva. "I need some time to think."

Kayla gave Eva a stare of questioning. "Okay."

Eva watched Kayla go back inside. She sat there for a long while, putting pressure on her shoulder. She reached under her sleeve and fingered some of the scars.

There was a shuffle of a shoe behind her. Eva jumped up and whipped around to face whoever was behind her. It was Mr. Delmas. What did he want?

"I'm sorry, Eva," he said. "I didn't mean to startle you."

"That's fine," said Eva.

"Why are you not in class?" he asked.

"Taking a breather," said Eva. "I fell from the rock wall. I was going to go to the nurse, but it's not anything too serious. I'll go back to class now."

"Miss Maverick, is there something you'd like to talk about?"

Eva pushed her tongue against her front teeth. Had word gotten out? "Is there something?"

"If there is anything you want to talk about, just let me know," he said.

Eva went back to class.

* * *

><p>Eva lay in bed in the middle of the night. She did not want to get up and take another late night shower. Earlier she had seen Milly staking out the girls' bathroom. Eva walked passed her unseen, but there were others to take the attention off of her.<p>

There was a high-pitched scream from down the hall. Eva jumped out of bed and raced down the hallway. She threw open Aelita's door. Aelita was tossing and turning in her bed. Eva hurried over to her and picked her up.

"Aelita, wake up," Eva said.

Aelita let out another scream.

"Aelita! Up!" Eva commanded.

Aelita's eyes snapped open. She stared at Eva for a minute before realizing what was going on. She tucked her face into Eva's shoulder and cried.

"Shh." Eva rocked her gently. "Shh. It's okay. It was just a bad dream."

"Do you know what time it is?" Sissi's derogatory voice asked loudly.

Eva turned and gave her a cold stare. "I am aware," her voice just as cold as her eyes. "Are you? At the moment, you are making the most noise."

"Well, keep it down!" barked Sissi.

Eva gave Sissi another cold stare and turned back to Aelita. Aelita was now fully awake.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"Don't be," said Eva. She got up and closed the door. She returned to sit on the floor beside the bed. "We all have nightmares."

"My past haunts me," Aelita said.

"Mine as well," whispered Eva.

There was a long pause between them.

"Eva, would you like to see my house?" Aelita suddenly asked.

"Sure," replied Eva.

Aelita got up and pulled some clothes on. Eva was already wearing a pair of canvas shoes that she wore to bed just in case she had to run to the factory in the middle of the night.

"Right now?" asked Eva.

"Neither of us can sleep," said Aelita. "We might as well."

Eva and Aelita went into the woods. After several minutes walking the paths, they came upon an abandoned house.

"The Hermitage," said Eva. "I know this place."

"You do?" asked Aelita.

Eva nodded. "I came here once. After Mackenzie. . ." She couldn't finish the sentence. "I was out late, trying to avoid my parents; I didn't want another beating. I took one look at the place and ran off. I cannot remember ever being so scared of something that I had no reason to fear."

"I grew up here," said Aelita. "I assure you, it was not like this when my father and I lived here."

"Your mother was taken away, right?" asked Eva. "And your father, Franz Hopper, is trapped on the network?"

Aelita nodded sadly. "I still dream about them. Sometimes it's my mother being taken away. Other times it's the men in black coming to take my father and me away. And then there are the dreams with Mr. Puck and the wolves."

"The doll?" asked Eva.

"Yes. Only in my dreams he isn't a doll, he's a flesh and blood elf." Aelita turned to the house. She pushed the gate open. "Come in. It may be in disrepair, but it is still my home."

Eva followed Aelita inside and they went up the stairs to Aelita's old room. There were voids in the dust that showed that this was not Aelita's first time up here.

"Eleven years," said Eva. "And you still look like a child."

"Because the supercomputer was shut down and I was trapped." Aelita took a seat on the bed. "You can say that I was asleep until Jeremy woke me. No time had passed for me."

Eva shook her head. "How do you do it?" she asked. "How can you hide that you are really twenty-three instead of twelve. Doesn't someone question your origins, your family?"

"I say that I'm Odd's cousin and that I'm from Canada," answered Aelita. "Jeremy forged my documents to get in."

Eva sat down beside Aelita. "Maybe it's just different for me. I mean, you're trying to live like a normal kid and save your father. I'm running away and trying to keep people from asking questions. It seems like every time I try to make a change and I feel like I'm becoming normal, something else happens."

"You mean becoming a LYOKO warrior?" asked Aelita.

"That, not that I mind, but Mr. Delmas asked me if there was something wrong today. I didn't know how to answer. I thought someone had said something." Eva crossed her arms. "I keep thinking that they're going to find me."

Aelita thought for a moment. "You are keeping a low profile, but maybe it's too low. You might want to join a club or something. Spend some time in the rec room. It might get people to stop asking questions."

"True," agreed Eva. "But what can I do? Sports are not my thing. Sure, I'm athletic, but I'm too aggressive. And now with my arm popping out of place, there's only so much I can do."

"Have you thought of Penchak Silat? Ulrich and Yumi can teach you. You already know some martial arts."

"I have," Eva said. "I'm just afraid I'm going to hurt one of them."

"You won't," said Aelita.

"It's a thought," said Eva. "We'll see."

* * *

><p>In the morning they went to breakfast as they normally did. The circles under Eva's eyes were darker than usual.<p>

"No sleep at all?" asked Ulrich.

"Not last night," said Eva.

"We visited the Hermitage," said Aelita.

"In the middle of the night?" asked Jeremy.

"Spooky," Odd said in a silly voice.

It caused Eva to smile a little. That smile quickly disappeared when Sissi started up.

"What do you mean you're not?" she yelled. Everyone turned to see who she was yelling at. It was Nicolas Poliakoff. "I want the part. I played Juliet for last year's play."

"Sissi, calm down," said Nicolas. "We haven't even picked the play we're doing yet."

"Well I want the lead female role," Sissi told him.

"Wow," said Sophie Florenceau. "She is really on the warpath today."

"That's what happens when you don't get a good night's sleep," said Claire Girard.

"Whose fault is that, I wonder." Sophie and Claire shot disapproving glares in Aelita's direction.

"Shutthemup," came a slurred whisper.

The gang turned to Eva to see that she had her hands over her ears. Her teeth were clenched and she was shaking. They had seen this before. For some reason, Eva couldn't stand the sound of Sissi's yelling. Who could, but it seemed that it affected Eva worse than everyone else.

"And make sure Ulrich gets the lead male role," Sissi went on.

"Oh, no!" Ulrich rolled his eyes. "I am not doing that again."

"And pick a romance," Sissi continued. "One with kissing."

There was a loud bang as Eva brought her fists down beside her tray. In a blink, she stood up, her chair overturning as she did, and turned to Sissi. Sissi was a few tables away, on the other side of the cafeteria, but she had heard the commotion, along with everyone else. She turned to see Eva.

"Sissi, the only role you deserve is the one of a witch," Eva said loudly.

"How dare you!" Sissi shouted. "I'm the prettiest, most talented girl in school."

"Most nasty and self-centered would be more accurate," Eva retaliated. "Everything is me, me, me with you. Do you honestly care about someone other than yourself?"

Sissi's face turned bright red with rage. "What's it to you? You're so strange that you have to hang out with a bunch of losers."

"Says the girl who wants the lead male role to go to one of those 'losers'," Eva shot back.

Sissi turned to Ulrich. "Not you, Ulrich dear," she quickly said. She turned back to Eva. "I'll let you know that my father will not have anyone talk to me this way."

"That's another thing," Eva put in. "You use your status to bully others. If something doesn't go your way, you go tell the principal. Well, guess what, Elisabeth, I am not afraid of you. I will not allow myself be bullied by an egotistic brat like you." Eva yelled that last part. No one had ever heard Eva yell, not like that. Even the gang was scared of her. She had a look on her face that said she was not afraid to go over there and give Sissi more than a verbal lashing.

Sissi didn't know what to say. She opened her mouth, but all that came out was a croak. Sissi ran out of the cafeteria, Herb Pichon dashing after her. Nicolas turned to Eva, stupefied as the rest of the room.

Eva righted her chair. She glared in the direction of Claire and Sophie. The two girls cowered and turned back to their trays. Eva sat down and went back to her breakfast. She was just about to put a fork full of eggs in her mouth when someone began applauding. She looked up to see Odd with the biggest smile on his face. The rest of the table joined him and then the entire cafeteria, Rosa the lunch lady included. Eva looked around, confused.

"I've been waiting for someone to tell her off like that for a long time now," said Odd. "I've never found the words to say it, but you, Eva Maverick, are a genius."

"I think it's safe to say that you no longer have that low of a low profile," Aelita said over the cheers of some of the students.

Eva nodded. She looked up from her tray at the door. She could tell that more trouble was headed her way.

"Eva Maverick!" Jim called in a stern voice.

"Uh-oh," said Odd. "Butter him up. He won't give you detention if you do."

Eva took a swig of milk before walking out of the cafeteria. Sissi had a smirk on her face as she stood behind Jim. Next to her was Herb.

"I believe you owe Sissi an apology," Jim said.

Eva looked at Sissi and then back at Jim. "If anyone is owed an apology, Jim, it would be Nicolas Poliakoff."

"And why would Poliakoff be in need of an apology?" asked Jim.

"Because Sissi was being a rude young lady to him. She demanded the lead female role in the next school play," Eva explained.

"Either way, you owe Sissi an apology," said Jim.

Feeling like this was not about to go away without her apologizing and wanting to get back to her breakfast before it got cold, Eva turned to Sissi. "I apologize." The words were strained as Eva tried to hide the contempt in her voice.

"All right," said Jim. "Eva, you'll serve two hours of detention for your outburst in the cafeteria. I expect to see you in the gymnasium after class today. I will determine a suitable punishment for you then."

Eva nodded in understanding.

Jim turned to Sissi. "As for you, Miss Delmas, you will apologize to Poliakoff. I will speak to your father about your punishment."

"What?" screamed Sissi. "Why am I being punished?"

"Because you can't go around intimidating other students just because you're the principal's daughter," said Jim. "Dismissed."

Eva went back into the cafeteria.

"So what's the damage?" asked Ulrich.

"Two hours detention with Jim," said Eva.

"Two hours?" asked Jeremy. "That seems a little excessive to me."

"That's fine," said Eva. "Sissi's getting punished, too."

Odd laughed. "Serves her right for being such a spoiled brat."

"Do you know what you have to do for detention?" asked Aelita.

"Jim didn't say. He said he'll think of one when I report to him after class." Eva finished her breakfast. "How bad can detention with Jim be?"

They thought for a moment. The usual horror stories seemed easy when they remembered what Eva had been through before she came to school.

"Not that bad, considering," Jeremy finally said.

Eva understood. Still, it left her curious as to what Jim would have in store for her.


	5. Detention

The end of the day came and Yumi and Kayla said their good-byes.

"Do you want to come over for a little while?" Kayla asked Eva.

"Can't. I've got detention," Eva replied.

"What?" cried Kayla. "You got detention? How?"

Eva turned and waved. "Someone tell her. I don't want to be late."

Kayla and Yumi turned to the others.

"Oh, it's a great story!" beamed Odd. He began to recount what would be know as the Breakfast Outburst in weeks to come.

Eva went to the gymnasium to find Jim waiting. It seemed that Sissi did not get detention, or at least not at the same time.

"Well, Maverick, it seems you've got more energy than any of the other students," Jim started.

"So it was you who was watching me during my late night laps," said Eva. She had known all along that it was Jim, but she didn't want to outright say that she knew from the beginning. She wanted to come off perceptive, not hyper vigilant. "I thought I saw someone in the shadows."

"Since you have all of this extra energy, you can run the obstacle course," Jim said.

Obstacle course? The school had an obstacle course? This was new to Eva. If she had known where it was, she would have been using it instead of running the track in the middle of the night.

"Okay," said Eva.

"Okay?" repeated Jim. "Most students would hate this punishment, and all you have to say about it is 'okay'?"

Eva stared at Jim. "What would you have me do? Complain? It would solve nothing and I would have to run it anyway."

This was the Eva Jim had come to know. She never complained, always quiet, but she helped others when they needed it. A perfect example: Jim when he was electrocuted. There was also the thing with the dog with the broken leg, Milly being carried to the nurse's office, and there was a rumor flying around that Eva walked Ishiyama home and then stayed and cooked dinner for the entire family. Then there was today's incident. Eva stuck up for Poliakoff though it did not concern her.

"One strange girl," muttered Jim.

"Pardon?" Eva said.

"Nothing," Jim said. "Come on, it's a bit of a walk and I bet you'll want to be back in time for you supper. I know I want to be."

Eva looked up at Jim with feigned interest. "What are they serving?"

"Stroganoff," replied Jim.

Eva wanted to be in the cafeteria early if they were serving that or Odd would convince Rosa to give him her portion. Surprisingly, Eva felt hungry for a change.

Jim led Eva through the woods to the obstacle course. The obstacle course was something Eva thought belonged at a military training ground. Logs to walk along, high ropes to cross, ladders to climb, barbed wire to crawl under. On top of that, there were the trails that led all across the forest. She liked this.

"Okay, Maverick, let's see what you can do." Jim took out a stopwatch.

Eva took her place at what she believed to be the starting line.

"Go!"

Eva took off like a shot. She dashed across the logs and dove under the barbed wire.

Jim watched her in awe. He knew Eva was fast and had the stamina to keep going for a long time, but he never dreamed that she could easily navigate unfamiliar obstacles. Jim wondered what she used to do before she came to Kadic. If memory served correctly, she had never joined any sports' clubs, but had done capoeira before and she could street dance.

Eva wondered if she should slow down a little. She was quickly working her way through the obstacles and there was still plenty of time before her detention was over.

She was carefully making her way across the high rope. Something made Eva look up. There was a squirrel on the other side by the rope. Eva was halfway across and the squirrel did see her. She frowned. Why wasn't it moving away from her?

"What's the matter, Eva?" Jim called up. "Not afraid of heights are you?"

Eva was focused on the squirrel. It had made its way to the top rope. Now what was it doing? Eva's eyes widened. It was chewing the rope! She gave a good tug on the rope, hoping that the movement would startle the mischievous rodent. Instead the squirrel looked up. Eva quickly replaced the word mischievous with malicious.

"XANA!" she whispered under breath.

* * *

><p>Jeremy was doing some programming in his room. He was hoping to find a new replica for the others to destroy. The super scan suddenly went off.<p>

"An activated tower!" he said. Jeremy picked up his mobile and called Aelita.

"Aelita, XANA has activated a tower in the mountain sector," he said.

"Okay," Aelita said. "I'll tell Odd and Kayla. You call Ulrich and Yumi."

"What about Eva?" asked Jeremy. "Do you want me to call her?"

"She's in detention," said Aelita. "But we should warn her."

Jeremy hung up and dialed first Ulrich's number and then Yumi's. They were on their way to the factory. Now for Eva. He dialed.

* * *

><p>Eva's mobile was in her pocket, but she didn't dare answer it. She had a feeling she knew it was one of her friends warning her that XANA was on the attack. She didn't need to be told that.<p>

The XANAfied squirrel had almost chewed through the top rope. Eva braced herself for pain. It wasn't a matter of if she was going to fall, it was a matter of when and how hard. Eva already had a plan of how to handle that.

The rope snapped. Eva held on and swung like Tarzan. She hit the opposite tree and she fell.

"Eva!" yelled Jim.

Eva didn't move. Jim ran over to her. She wasn't curled in a ball of pain like she had been when she fell from the rock wall. She just lay there.

"Eva!" Jim called to her again.

Eva moaned this time.

Carefully, Jim scooped her up and began to run back to the school. "You just hang in there, Eva," said Jim. "You'll be okay."

* * *

><p>They arrived at the factory.<p>

"Where's Eva?" asked Kayla.

"Dunno," replied Odd.

"I tried calling her, but she wouldn't answer," said Jeremy.

"I tried, too," said Ulrich.

"We can't wait for her," said Yumi. "She can catch up with us."

Jeremy sent them to LYOKO.

"Here are your vehicles," Jeremy said, programming the overwing, overboard, overbike, and one more. "And there's a special surprise for you, Kayla."

Kayla looked at where Jeremy called up their vehicles. There was a fourth vehicle. It was the size of Yumi's overwing, but it was pale yellow with short gold edged wings. It was narrow and it hovered.

"Hop in," said Jeremy.

Kayla jumped over the high sides and steadied herself. There were two gold handles in front of her on a control console of sorts. Kayla wrapped her hands around the handles. She gently pulled up. The handles came out of place, thin yet sturdy cables trailing behind them.

"Give the levers a squeeze," said Jeremy.

Kayla saw what appeared to be the brakes on a bike by her fingers. She gave them both a squeeze. The gold edges of the short wings flashed and yellow energy extended the wings.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the overkite," said Jeremy.

"It's going to be a little hard to use my morning star with these," Kayla said, pulling at the controls to steady her new vehicle.

"You'll get the hang of it," said Ulrich. "I thought the same thing at first with my bike."

"Let's get a move on, little doggies!" said Odd, leaping onto his board and taking off.

* * *

><p>Eva stirred in Jim's arms. "Wha?"<p>

"You're awake," panted Jim. "Good. I was a little worried."

Eva looked around. "Put me down," she told Jim.

Jim stopped and put her down. Eva rubbed her head, making a quick search of her surroundings.

"What happened?" she asked. She had a good idea of exactly what happened. Jim only confirmed it.

"I'm okay," said Eva.

"Eva, you're not," said Jim. "You fell from the high ropes. You could have broken bones."

Eva shook her head. "I'm fine. Really, I am."

Jim was a bit reluctant to let her off that easy. "Okay," he said slowly. "But let's go back to school anyway. I'll wave your detention."

Eva got to her feet and began to walk beside Jim. Something rustled in the trees. Eva figured it was just that squirrel coming back for Round Two. She glanced up in the trees. There was not one, but many squirrels. She thought several rude words before turning to Jim.

"Hey, Jim, let's jog back," she said.

"Jog?" Jim gave her a suspicious look.

"Sure! I feel great. Jogging will give me some good exercise," Eva said and she began to pick up the pace. When she saw that Jim wasn't following her, she called, "Race you back! Or are you afraid I'll beat you?"

"You? Beat me?" Jim laughed and began to sprint after Eva. "I'll have you know I've won the Teacher's Fitness Award."

It sounded bogus and Eva was sure Jim was making that up, but he was running after her and they were putting distance between them and the squirrels.

* * *

><p>"Here's some good news," said Jeremy. "I see monsters, but I don't see William. It looks like he won't be making an appearance."<p>

"Don't jinx it!" said Kayla. "You know what happened the last time."

"So what are we dealing with?" asked Yumi.

"Tarantulas. Four of them," Jeremy answered.

"XANA's pulling out the big guns after all," said Ulrich. "Four tarantulas are just as bad as William."

"At least they're stupid," said Kayla. "William's got enough sense to go for the throat."

They were coming up on the tower. The tarantulas took their positions.

"Showtime!" said Odd, breaking away and going for one on the end.

Ulrich and Kayla took the center ones and Yumi took the final one.

Ulrich laid his bike, crashing it into the tarantula's front legs. It let out a bellow. One leg was damaged, but the other was still usable. It fired on Ulrich. Ulrich blocked with his sabers, deflecting one shot back at it. It missed the weak point, but caused the tarantula to stop firing for a moment. A moment was all Ulrich needed. He dashed up and plunged one saber into the tarantula's head.

Odd was flying circles around his tarantula, egging it on. It would fire and miss and Odd would taunt it some more. Odd fired several arrows, two sinking into the week point.

"And good-bye!" Odd yelled as it blew up.

Kayla glided shakily, trying to hold her morning star with one hand while steering with the other.

"Next time, Jeremy, let me get some practice first!" she yelled.

"Sorry," said Jeremy. "I just finished it."

Kayla focused on being able to swing her weapon. She twirled it twice before the tarantula shot her down. She tucked and rolled, right in front of it. Kayla let out a cry as its leg came down. The leg missed, Ulrich having dashed over to Kayla and pulling her out of the way.

"Thanks," she said.

"No problem," replied Ulrich. "Need some help?"

"Maybe a little," answered Kayla.

Ulrich ran a circle around the tarantula, moving so fast that he left an afterimage. The tarantula shot at him, but kept hitting the images. Kayla jumped over Ulrich, much higher than she expected.

"Whoa!" she heard Odd shout.

Kayla slammed her morning star into the tarantula's head and it exploded.

Ulrich stopped running. He turned to Kayla. "I didn't know you could do that."

Kayla shrugged. "Me, neither."

* * *

><p>Eva was becoming anxious. She and Jim had been running for a while and the squirrels were still pursuing them. Eva had been taking different paths, ones Jim didn't know. She turned their race into a game of follow the leader. Eva didn't want the squirrels following them back to the school and wreaking havoc there.<p>

Seeing that a few squirrels could pounce on her, Eva hopped off the path, out of Jim's sight, picked up a broken tree limb, and swung it at an attacking squirrel. She struck it and the squirrel went sailing out of sight.

Eva winced. That was not a smart thing to do considering her ribs were sore. She threw down the tree branch and got back on the path and continued running with Jim behind her.

* * *

><p>Yumi and Aelita were dealing with the last tarantula. They were hiding behind some rocks.<p>

Yumi turned to Aelita. "On three. One, two, three!"

Both of them jumped up and attacked. Aelita's energy field struck the head of the tarantula and Yumi's fan clipped the head.

"That's all of them," said Yumi. "Aelita, go!"

Aelita ran into the tower. At the top, she placed her hand on the interface.

Aelita.

Code: LYOKO.

"Tower deactivated," Aelita announced as the tower went dark for a moment and turned white.

* * *

><p>Eva turned and saw that the squirrels had stopped chasing them and were scattering in different directions. Her mobile vibrated in her pocket.<p>

"Hello?" she panted.

"Eva, the tower's deactivated," Jeremy said.

"Great," replied Eva. "I'll see you back at school."

Eva led Jim back to the school. Panting to the point of wheezing, Jim braced himself against the nearest structure.

"That was. . .great. . .Eva," he panted. "I didn't. . .know you could. . .run so. . .fast."

"Thank you, Jim," said Eva, breathing heavily herself. "That was fun. I wouldn't mind doing that again."

"Well," Jim said slowly. He had some of his breath back. He stood up straight and put his hands on his hips. "I guess I could let you use it any time. You seem responsible enough. I know I let your friends use it before. Had a wild boar attack us, sprained my ankle. We haven't been back there since, but I wouldn't mind having special training sessions."

"I'm not sure how much Kayla would like it," Eva said. "But I think I can convince her to come."

"Okay, we'll have a session next weekend," said Jim. "Now I'm hungry. Let's get something to eat."

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you for reading this weekend's posting. Enjoy your Independence Day, and practice safety when setting off fireworks. Last year, there was an accident and my friend's boyfriend had to be rushed to a burn center. But that shouldn't keep you from having a great weekend! XD<strong>


	6. New Interests

Kayla awoke to something wet rubbing on her face.

"All right, Bon Ami," she grumbled, rolling over in bed. "I'm up."

Kayla pulled herself out of bed, got dressed in her teal shirt, blue tights, and black skirt and boots. Bon Ami followed her downstairs to the kitchen, where she left him out in the backyard. There was a note on the kitchen table from her parents saying that they were sorry they couldn't be home when she woke up and that they probably wouldn't be home until after her bedtime. She had noticed that they spent more time at the hospital. Kayla knew they loved their jobs and they loved her. They used to try to coordinate things to that at least one of them, usually her father, would be home when she would go to school or when she would come home. That had changed slightly, Kayla noticed, since Bon Ami came into their lives. Kayla figured they felt she could be home alone as long as the dog was there to protect her. Bon Ami had scared a robber away from next door.

Kayla filled the dog dish full of kibble and placed it by the back door. She got the coffee maker started and left Bon Ami in before getting her cereal and orange juice. Eva hadn't been getting much sleep and Kayla felt that it was less than usual. The overly caffeinated tea Eva made in her room every morning just wasn't cutting it and the stuff in the school vending machine was complete junk.

"Okay, Bon, I'm going to school," Kayla told the dog.

Kayla walked to school with her school bag on her back and the coffee in a travel mug in her hand. She was a little earlier than usual. Kayla entered the school gates and made her way over to the dorms.

"Hey, Kayla!"

Kayla turned to see Milly and Tamiya rushing up to her. Milly had a notepad in her hand and Tamiya was carrying her camera. Kayla could see that they were in full reporter mode.

"Can we interview you?" asked Milly.

"About?" asked Kayla.

"We're doing a little piece on Eva Maverick," said Milly. "You know, since not many of the students know much about her, we thought we would put an article about her in the next school paper. Give some insight about who she is and what she does."

"No," Kayla said. She turned and continued on her way.

Milly darted in front of her. "But why?" she asked.

"Because I don't want to be interviewed," said Kayla. "And it's not the student body's business what Eva does."

"But the public has a right to know," insisted Milly.

"Eva's a private citizen," said Kayla. "Brush up on your journalism policy. Eva has a right to privacy."

Kayla stormed off, her yellow hair flying behind her as she entered the dorms. She entered Eva's room without knocking. Eva was still in bed. Kayla gave the foot of the bed a good solid kick.

"What?" asked Eva without opening her eyes.

"You need to hear this," said Kayla, sitting on the edge of the bed. "And I brought you coffee."

Eva sat up and accepted the travel mug.

Kayla told Eva what happened downstairs with the young reporters.

"Great," muttered Eva. "As if things weren't hard enough."

"What do you mean?" asked Kayla.

Eva shook her head. "I don't know. I think I'm letting people get too close. Mr. Delmas asked if anything was wrong a few days ago. I had that bit with Jim during detention when XANA attacked. Milly and Tamiya keep staring at my back. And I have a feeling Hiroki and Johnny have a piece in all of this, too."

"So what do you want to do?" asked Kayla.

"I don't know," said Eva. She brought her hand to her forehead. "What can I do?"

"Didn't Aelita say something about keeping a too low a profile?" asked Kayla.

"Yeah," replied Eva. "She said that I should do something to attract some attention."

Kayla thought for a moment. "I'm thinking about going back to my ballroom dancing classes. You could be my partner. I still have your jacket and hat."

"It's a thought," said Eva. She got up and began to get dressed. "What do you think I should do?"

"Me?" Kayla was surprised. "I guess you should join a club. I know how you are with sports, so I won't even try to encourage that."

"Jim caught me," Eva suddenly said.

Kayla frowned. "Caught you? Doing what?"

"A nighttime run," replied Eva. "I never knew he was there until it was too late. I'm slipping."

"Far from it," said Kayla. "Sometimes you're around and even I don't know you're there."

They were silent for a moment.

"What did he say?" Kayla asked.

"That I have a lot of energy," replied Eva. "He wants to start special training sessions with the others at the obstacle course. He wanted me to ask you to join us as well on the weekends."

"It's not really my thing," said Kayla. "But I'll think about it. It could really help me on LYOKO. I haven't been doing very well recently. I did figure out that I have this super jump!"

Eva raised an eyebrow. "Cool."

"Yes, it is!" Kayla said with a smile. "Over Ulrich and above the tarantula we were fighting. It was so high!"

The two of them walked to the cafeteria.

"Hey, Maverick!"

They turned to see Jim walking over to them. He was holding something in his hand.

"I thought you would like this," he said, holding out what he was holding. It was a DVD. "You handled the obstacle course so well and you have quite a bit of stamina, and I found this and just thought of you."

"Thank you, Jim," said Eva, taking the DVD. "What is it?"

"You'll find out when you watch it," said Jim. He leaned over to whisper in Eva's ear. "I'll give you class time to watch it. We're playing basketball in class today."

"Really?" asked Eva, genuinely surprised.

Jim straightened up. "Yeah! You must be tired from yesterday's detention. I'll let you take a break."

"Well, thank you very much, Jim," said Eva.

Jim walked away.

"What was that about?" asked Eva.

Kayla laughed. "I haven't a clue. You were with him yesterday. You tell me."

"I would if I could." Eva looked at the DVD in her hand.

They went to the cafeteria. The others were already there. Yumi sat down and was helping herself to a piece of toast.

"Hey," said Yumi. "I thought you would have beaten me here."

"We were talking," said Kayla.

"Whoof at?" Odd's mouth was stuffed with a whole pancake.

"What?" asked Kayla.

"Whoof's uhat?" Odd said again. No one still couldn't understand him. He jabbed his fork at the DVD.

"What's this?" asked Kayla.

Odd nodded, swallowing. "That's what I said."

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Odd," Kayla scolded. "It makes it impossible for anyone to understand you."

"Like we can understand the wonderful world of Odd to begin with?" asked Ulrich.

"What can I say? I'm complicated," said Odd.

"To what, a five-year-old?" asked Eva. "The only thing there is to understand about you, Odd, is that you're straight up strange. I'm sure even Sissi can figure that one out."

"What about me?" asked Sissi.

"Hello, Sissi," said Ulrich.

"You were talking about me, Eva," said Sissi, ignoring Ulrich.

"Yes, I was," said Eva.

"So?" asked Sissi. She put her hands on her hips and stared down at Eva.

"So?" Eva repeated.

"So what were you saying about me?" demanded Sissi.

Feeling that there was going to be trouble, Odd came to Eva's rescue. "About your shoe size." He looked at her feet. "What are you? Four? Five?"

"I'm a six," said Sissi. "And why do you want to know?"

"Inquiring minds were wondering," Odd said with a shrug.

Sissi frowned. "You are so strange!" she said, walking away.

"Are you just figuring that out?" Odd called after her.

Sissi said nothing. She went over to the William clone and said something to him. He replied and she walked off in an even bigger huff. The clone clearly didn't understand what he had said.

"What?" asked Yumi, catching a sympathetic look on Kayla's face.

"I just feel bad for him," said Kayla. "He's so clueless. And Sissi can't be doing anything to help him."

"He doesn't understand emotion," Jeremy said plainly. "Sissi can't do anything to hurt his feelings. There are no feelings to be hurt."

Kayla was caught off-guard by Jeremy's uncaring tone. She was about to say something about it, but stopped herself. Jeremy was right. The clone was not human and was only created to take the place of William while XANA had control of him. But still Kayla couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the clone. He was a fish out of water. Kayla wondered if the others thought the same.

"We should at least do something to help him," said Kayla.

"Like what?" asked Aelita.

"I'm not tweaking the program," said Jeremy. "We already had enough problems with XANA controlling it and me trying to make it more human. If I upgrade it, who knows what will happen. As it is, the clone will work."

Kayla sighed. Maybe there was nothing that could be done. Or maybe. . . Kayla had a thought.

"What are you doing?" asked Jeremy as she stood up and walked over to the clone.

Kayla sat down across from him. The others watched her with interest and varying degrees of uncertainty. William Clone looked up at her and smiled.

"Hi," said Kayla, smiling. "I do not believe we were ever properly introduced. My name is Kayla Olson."

William Clone stared back at her still smiling. Kayla was beginning to believe that this was not going to go well.

"My name is William Dunbar," William Clone finally said. Kayla gave a small start. "I am very pleased to meet you, Kayla."

Kayla let out a sigh of relief.

"You're in some of my classes," William Clone continued. "And then the other girl is in the rest. But not gym. Neither of you are in that class with me."

"You mean Eva," said Kayla. "She's in your other classes when I'm not."

"She doesn't like Sissi," William Clone added.

Kayla laughed. "You're right about that."

"Are you seeing this?" asked Jeremy. "Is she communicating with the clone with little difficulty?"

Kayla and William Clone were talking back and forth. Now and then Kayla would giggle at something. William Clone would just sit there and smile back.

"She had to get through to me," said Eva, far from surprised. "It would only make sense that she could talk to it without much trouble. I was much worse in the beginning."

"What shall we do?" asked Aelita.

"What is there to do?" asked Yumi. "This could work in our favor. With Kayla distracting the William Clone, other people won't notice the changes as much. I hope."

Jeremy hummed as he thought. "I guess it'll work. It's not like we're changing the programming or anything like that. And it can learn, we've seen that. Let's see how things go."

At gym class, Eva showed up to report for class. The DVD was tucked under her oversized shirt. Jim remembered telling her that she could have the class off.

"Think you are responsible enough to handle these?" Jim asked quietly, handing Eva a key ring with several keys. Jim pointed one out. "This one's for the computer lab. You have the entire class. Lock up and bring the keys back when you're done."

"Thanks, Jim," said Eva.

Eva went to the computer lab and started up a computer in a dark corner of the room. She kept the lights off in case another teacher came down. Eva had permission, but old sneaking habits kept her from being a normal student and trusting the teachers. She popped the DVD into the disc drive and started it up.

It was a video of young men doing dangerous stunts. Some jumped off roofs, leaped across buildings, or did flips of walls. Eva had to admit her curiosity was piqued, but she still wondered why Jim would give this to her.

After the introduction, someone explained what was going on. It was parkour, an extreme sport that was not overly well-known yet. It combined free running and gymnastics.

The video showed several athletes running through an everyday place. Eva was a bit impressed. It reminded her of the movies a little. Some of this she could already do, like wall flips, but some of the other stuff, like swinging from bars, was something she never did before.

The video finished and Eva ran it back to watch some of the athletes perform their tricks again. She watched them over and over, memorizing what they did, how they had their heads tucked, when and how they jumped, and, most importantly, how they landed.

The bell signaling the end of the class sounded. Eva jumped and quickly shutdown the computer and locked up the computer lab. She ran back to the gymnasium and gave Jim's keys back.

"That was cool," she said to him before she hurried off to her next class.

That night, Eva snuck out of her dorm and to the obstacle course. She practiced everything she saw on the video. She did a back flip off a log, climbed the chainlink fence before doing a flip over the side, and even found a place to practice a few dives. This was something she could get used to.


	7. Extra Curricular Activities

Nicolas and Herb wandered the courtyard before breakfast.

"So, what's the play this year?" Herb asked.

"I don't know," said Nicolas. "We may be doing a musical. There are a lot of choices, but no one has said anything about which one they want to do. I can write the script adaption like I did last year, but I wouldn't mind having a little extra help."

"Who would help you?" asked Herb. "I'm not much of a school play person."

"Maybe I can get Aelita to help me," Nicolas said.

"Doubt it," said Herb. "She and Jeremy are inseparable."

"Who else would do it?" asked Nicolas.

Nicolas looked over at Aelita. She was sitting on a bench with the rest of her friends. They were listening to Eva, except maybe for Jeremy, who was balancing his laptop on his lap and typing furiously. Eva was holding a small notebook in her hands and reading from it. Curious, Nicolas walked over to listen, but Eva heard him coming and looked up.

"What, Nicolas?" she asked.

"What are you reading?" asked Nicolas.

"Poetry," replied Eva.

This sounded promising to Nicolas. "Really? Who's it by?"

"Mr. Poliakoff!" called the art teacher at that moment.

"Gotta run," said Nicolas. He ran to the teacher.

"That was weird," said Ulrich.

"He probably wanted to say hi to Aelita," said Odd.

"I found another replica," said Jeremy. "We'll destroy it tonight."

"Okay," said Kayla. "What do you want us to do?" She pointed to herself and Eva. They never went to the network before. They knew about the Skid and that it didn't have room for both of them. There was an extra nav skid, but neither of them were keen about having to hang upside-down.

"You two will go to Sector Five and protect the core of LYOKO," said Jeremy. "XANA may try to attack while the others are away."

* * *

><p>After supper, the LYOKO warriors went to the factory. It was Eva who first noticed they weren't alone.<p>

"Look over there," she said, pointing to the shore.

The others turned to where she was pointing.

"That looks like Nicolas," said Yumi.

"What are we going to do?" asked Kayla. "He may see us."

"This has happened before," said Aelita. "We need a distraction."

"I'll go," said Eva. "Kayla, can you protect the core by yourself?"

"No problem," replied Kayla.

"See you later," said Eva.

Eva climbed down the embankment. "I wasn't expecting to see anyone here," she said, startling Nicolas.

He turned around. "Hey, Eva. What are you doing out here?"

"I could ask the same of you," Eva said.

Nicolas held up a fishing pole. "Fishing," he answered.

Eva raised an eyebrow.

"What about you?" asked Nicolas.

"Going for a walk," lied Eva.

"Have a seat." Nicolas patted the ground beside him. Eva sat down. "Want to try?" he asked, offering her the pole.

"No, thank you," Eva politely said.

Nicolas shrugged and turned back to the river.

"You like poetry?" he said.

Eva turned. She wasn't sure if it was a statement or a question. "Yes," she replied.

"What were you reading this morning?" asked Nicolas.

"'Ugly Beauty'," replied Eva.

"I don't know that one," said Nicolas. "I'll have to read it sometime."

Eva looked at the river. "She sits in front of the mirror and stares / her countenance something she cannot bear. / Soft is her face, gentle are eyes so green. / No one knows what her body was, what her face had been. / Skin deep is what beauty is truly / her soul, the opposite, dark and ugly. / Perfection she could not achieve / never lovely as others believe. / Too much, not enough, too big, too small / she sees the imperfections invisible to all."

Nicolas was staring at her. For a long time he had seen only a rough looking girl who was always quiet and mysterious. Now he saw that Eva had a love of poetry.

"That's amazing," he said. He chuckled. "I can think of someone that poem reminds me of."

"Sissi?" asked Eva.

"Yeah."

Nicolas could see that there was something else, something more personal. "That poem," he said, "who wrote it?"

Eva turned, a flicker of interest in her dark eyes. "I did."

"You really have a talent for it," said Nicolas. An idea occurred to him. "Um, Eva?"

"Yes?"

"I don't know if you like school plays, but would you mind helping me out with this year's?" Nicolas saw her frown. "Not play a part, but help me write the school script?"

"What's the play?" asked Eva.

"I'm not sure," said Nicolas. "There are a few choices, but no one's made a decision. I was hoping to do another Shakespearean. Last year's wasn't great, but it did well. Would you be interested?"

Eva thought for a moment. It wasn't a bad idea. It would give her a chance to be in the spotlight a bit more and hopefully up her profile. And it was something she would have an easy time doing.

"All right, I'll think about it," Eva finally said.

"Great!" said Nicolas.

"I said, I'll think about it," Eva repeated. "Don't get any ideas that I'm jumping on this bandwagon right away. We'll see how things play out."

"Yeah, I know how much you don't like Sissi," said Nicolas.

They sat there for a long time, mostly in silence as to not scare away the fish. Nicolas only caught a few before deciding that he was packing up to leave for the night. The others still hadn't gotten back when he was ready to leave. Eva wasn't sure that she should walk back to school with him when he offered. She finally decided on going back. It would raise questions if she didn't, and she could always run back to the factory if she needed to. Hopefully the others were okay.

Back on campus, Eva pulled out her mobile and called Jeremy.

"Are things okay there?" asked Eva.

"Things got a little rocky, but they're on their way home right now," answered Jeremy. "They should be home in about five minutes."

"I'll see you back at school," said Eva, and she hung up.

* * *

><p>On Saturday afternoon, Kayla waited outside the dance studio where she took her ballroom dance lessons. She had her arms crossed and kept looking at her watch. She was expecting her partner.<p>

Kayla gave up and went inside. Class was about to start.

"Break into pairs," said Ms. Riddle.

Kayla stood by herself.

"Miss Olson, where is your partner?" asked Ms. Riddle.

"Not here," replied Kayla.

A vicious girl, Aria, looked over at Kayla and smirked. Aria was not a well-liked girl. She was cruel and manipulative and petty, not to mention extremely jealous of Kayla, who was prettier than her in every way.

Kayla caught her smirk and glared.

"Excuse my tardiness, Madam Riddle," said a hoarse voice from the doorway. It belonged to a teenager dressed sharply, brown hair pulled into a ponytail, and a fedora pulled low over the brow to hide the eyes.

Ms. Riddle smiled. "Oh, don't worry, dear," she said, staring at the newcomer. "You can pair up with Miss Olson."

"Where were you?" Kayla asked, holding her hand out.

"Sorry. I couldn't find the lifts for the shoes."

Kayla looked over at Aria. She was staring at Kayla's partner with interest. Kayla could see the scheming look in her eyes.

"You have Aria's eye," Kayla said with a smirk, "Eva."

Eva chuckled. "Is this the girl who's such a pain?"

"Yeah," replied Kayla.

"All right, let's begin," said Ms. Riddle. "Ah, young man, do you know how to dance?"

"Yes," replied Eva.

Ms. Riddle turned on the CD player and began class.

"They need to pick the pace up a little," Eva muttered to Kayla. "I could go to sleep."

Kayla laughed. "I'll see what I can do. Do you want to tango?"

Eva smirked. "I could use the exercise."

They waited until the end of class to request a dance. Eva asked since she could tell she held some sway over Ms. Riddle.

"Tango?" asked Ms. Riddle, a little surprised at the request. "All right."

Eva and Kayla took the floor. They easily moved around, Eva more than able to support Kayla's weight during a lift.

"Ballet practice paid off," whispered Kayla.

"I knew it would," Eva replied.

Kayla caught Aria glaring at them. She smiled, amused that she was able to irk her rival in such a way.

After class, Kayla went to the bathroom to change clothes.

"That is some partner you have," Aria said.

Kayla looked in the mirror. "Thank you."

Aria began to change her clothes as well. "So are you dating?"

"Dating?" asked Kayla. She shook her head. "No."

"So how do you know each other?" asked Aria.

"From school," answered Kayla. "We have classes together."

"Ah!" Aria was quiet for a moment. "So you wouldn't mind if I asked him out?"

Kayla almost burst out laughing. "No, not at all," she said, forcing a snicker back. "I don't think he would want to go out with you. You're not his type."

"And what is his type? Pretty princess with golden hair?" mocked Aria.

"He prefers a modest girl," Kayla answered, ignoring Aria's tone.

"Okay," said Aria.

They left and found Eva waiting outside the bathroom.

"Hello," said Aria in a sultry tone.

Eva glanced at her. "Hello."

Aria could see that there was no interest in that hoarse voice. "I'm Aria. What's your name?"

Kayla wondered if Eva was prepared for this. Who was she kidding? This was Eva she was talking about. She was always prepared.

"Ricky," Eva replied. "Short for Ricardo."

"Ricardo," repeated Aria, rolling the r's. She began to invade Eva' personal space. "You know, I like a boy who's not afraid to admit he likes to dance. Some find it demeaning." Aria ran her hand over the shoulder of Eva's jacket. "Would you like to go out sometime?"

"You don't waste anytime," said Eva. "But no, thanks. I'm not interested in the dating scene. I have other things to worry about."

"Too bad," said Aria. "Maybe this will change your mind."

Kayla's jaw dropped as Aria kissed Eva. Eva was too shocked to do anything for a second. She pushed Aria away, gave her a disgusted glance, and turned to the nearest exit.

"Slovenly cow!" hissed Eva. "Let's go, Kayla."

Kayla hurried after Eva, leaving behind a very confused Aria.

"I cannot believe. . ."

"Believe it," snapped Eva, rubbing her mouth with the back of her hand and spitting on the ground.

Kayla giggled.

"What?" growled Eva.

"That was hilarious," laughed Kayla.

"It's not funny," said Eva.

"Yes, it is. Did you see the look on Aria's face when you called her a slovenly cow?" Kayla shrieked with laughter as they walked down the street. "Your face was priceless, too, but hers!"

Kayla's house was closer than the school. Bon Ami greeted them at the door, jumping up on Eva, able to recognize her immediately. She patted him on the head before taking off her jacket and throwing it on a chair, striding to the nearest bathroom.

"I am glad you find this so amusing," said Eva.

Kayla walked over to the bathroom door that Eva did not close. Eva was standing at the sink, a washcloth hanging over the side and the bottle of mouthwash in one hand. She gargled and spat before washing her mouth with scalding hot water.

Eva looked over at Kayla and glared. She pointed a finger at her. "We do not tell anyone, and I mean anyone, about this."

The threatening look Eva was giving her didn't stop Kayla from bursting into another fit of giggles.

"Got it," said Kayla, trying to control her snickering.

Eva changed out of her dance clothes and pulled on her classic baggy jeans and oversized T-shirt. She went into the living room and plopped down on the sofa, Bon Ami jumping up and curling up in her lap.

"Drink?" called Kayla from the kitchen.

"Do you have any of that green tea lemon stuff?" asked Eva.

Kayla took a large pitcher from the refrigerator. "Yep! Fresh batch!" She looked at what else was there. "Do you want me to heat up some leftover stir-fry?"

"Is that your supper for tonight?" asked Eva.

"It might be," answered Kayla.

"Then no."

Kayla came to the living room. "You need to eat."

"I've been," said Eva.

"Eva!"

Eva threw her arms up. "What? I'm eating. Ask Odd. He's only be getting about half of my meals now."

"Eva Maverick!" Kayla let out an exasperated sigh. "You know what: forget it! You're having that stir-fry." She went back into the kitchen.

"You can't force me to eat it," Eva told her.

"Watch me!" yelled Kayla.

"What are you going to do, shove it down my throat?"

Kayla came back to the living room. "You're eating it. If I have to puree it and stick a hose down your throat to get you to eat it, so be it."

Eva smirked. "You're starting to turn into me."

"Far from it," said Kayla. "I'm just looking out for you. I'm not going to let you starve yourself. Got that?"

Eva was quiet for a moment. "Got it."

"Good!" Satisfied, Kayla went back to the kitchen to heat the stir-fry.

Eva looked down at Bon Ami. He was looking up at her with his brown eyes.

"What?" she asked.

Bon Ami put his head down.

Kayla came back ten minutes later with stir-fry and drinks. She sat beside Eva on the sofa and picked up the remote to the television.

"So what will it be — _Smokey and the Bandit 2_ or _Matilda_?" asked Kayla.

"_Smokey and the Bandit 2_," replied Eva. "Dom DeLuise always makes me laugh."

Kayla gave Eva a funny look. It was rare to see Eva smile, much less laugh.

"Okay," said Kayla, getting up and putting in the movie.

* * *

><p><strong>I hope I spelled Dom DeLuise's name correctly. I wanted this chapter to have a little twisted humor in it in some form. Please review!<strong>


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